Driving Market Expansion: Leading Uber’s Growth in Emerging African Markets

Jean-Pascal, Switzerland General Manager at Uber, Geneva

context

Jean-Pascal had advanced in his career at Uber until becoming General Manager in Switzerland, where he was responsible for driving the country’s growth strategy and leading the local team.

About a year and a half into his tenure, he was tasked with leading the expansion of Uber’s operations into emerging African markets, including Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Uganda.

Challenge

Jean-Pascal faced the challenge of managing two key roles simultaneously: overseeing operations in Switzerland and leading the expansion into emerging African markets.

His new responsibility required him to define a clear strategy, lead a remote team, and manage stakeholders in a new space.

Objectives

  • Develop a vision and roadmap to penetrate the African regions.

  • Create and lead a remote team.

  • Build influence and gain trust amongst stakeholders in a new landscape.

Results

Jean-Pascal organized a high-performing, well-coordinated team. He gained a deep understanding of the barriers hindering performance both individually and as a group, which allowed him to identify obstacles to achieving and growing results.

Despite working remotely, he streamlined reporting processes and fostered greater team autonomy, which enabled him to progress with his vision.

Roadmap

In 6 months, we tackled three key stages:

    • Jean-Pascal assessed the challenges and opportunities in the African market, considering local competitors, user behavior, and market needs to adapt the product to local users. He also pinpointed key players such as local government officials and regulatory bodies critical for market penetration.

    • He defined KPIs, such as new users acquired or growth in app downloads, to track progress for both team performance and market expansion.

    • Jean-Pascal guided his new team in Africa to understand their roles, responsibilities, and the KPIs they needed to achieve and report on. He set an operational rhythm to get them into motion.

    • Jean-Pascal created a structured and strategic reporting framework with his peers in Switzerland that reduced the frequency of meetings and minimized touchpoints. This enabled him to create time to focus on leading the African expansion.

    • Jean-Pascal noticed his team was working individually due to remote work, so he introduced feedback meetings both in groups and individually to identify what was working and what wasn’t, helping to upgrade future interactions.

    • Jean-Pascal defined a framework to assess each quarter, identifying success factors, growth catalysts, and barriers, and used this to plan and amplify growth in the next quarter.

key Insight

  • He understood how each team member operated differently and what they needed to perform at their best.

  • He realized the importance of not just delegating tasks, but also having strategic conversations that would address team inefficiencies, help his team members gain awareness of how they operated, and provide an opportunity to discuss and improve his own delegation style.

From insight to action

“Susana has a remarkable ability to ask precise questions, which has been instrumental in helping me uncover solutions to complex business challenges, particularly those related to people dynamics.

She cultivates a supportive atmosphere that allows me to express myself openly and articulate my experiences and challenges with clarity. Through a well-structured thought process, she has guided me toward developing actionable plans to foster effective communication and problem-solving.”

- Jean-Pascal, Switzerland General Manager at Uber, Geneva

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